LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland's 12-day September yearling auction ended its surprisingly strong run on Saturday with dramatic gains across the board.
Topped by a $3.8 million Gone West filly that Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum bought from Three Chimneys, agent, the marathon sale ultimately closed with steep increases of 30 percent in gross receipts and 29 percent in the average price, and a 13 percent gain in the median.
Virginia's sire power will surge in 2004, with the addition of Black Tie Affair and Bop.
Horse of the year Black Tie Affair, a 17-year-old son of Miswaki, is due to arrive at Blue Ridge Farm in Upperville in mid-October. A gray stallion, Black Tie Affair returns to U.S. soil after standing the past six seasons in Japan, and will be offered on a private contract basis. Shares, which include a bonus breeding season each year, are still available for $10,000.
The success of Florida's yearling auction last month is attributed to the demand for the get of Florida's new stallions, who ultimately generated yearling averages many times their respective stud fees. The Ocala Breeders Sales Co.'s fall mixed sale, which starts Oct. 13, has another group of Florida stallions ready to make their mark. These are the graded stakes winning stallions whose first foals are weanlings.
The racing achievements of New York-breds have made the headlines on numerous occasions this year, so it was only fitting that a New York-bred caused a bit of a stir at Keeneland's September yearling sale.
At the opening session on Sept. 8, a Storm Cat colt bred and foaled at Barry Schwartz's Stonewall Farm in Granite Springs, N.Y., set the record for a New York-bred yearling sold at auction. The colt sold for $1.6 million, and was bought by bloodstock agent John Ferguson, an advisor to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's Godolphin Stable.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Casual observers of Kentucky's Thoroughbred marketplace might not have noticed when Jacobo Nahmad started signing tickets at Keeneland's September sale this week. But Keeneland's mid- to lower-level sellers did.
Nahmad, a Mexican textile manufacturer, has been buying inexpensive yearlings at the auction since 2000. So far this year, he has purchased 15 for $472,000, paying from $13,000 to $75,000 each.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - As the Keeneland September yearling sale wound down toward its Sept. 20 ending, sellers were seeing far lower prices than at the earlier sessions that put the auction on a near-record pace. But there was still at least one six-figure lot as Thursday's 10th session headed into the late afternoon.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - With more than 4,000 horses, the Keeneland September sale comprises a sea of yearlings. Sailing on this equine ocean, many a skipper has sunk because finding the good horses is no simple process.
Most careful observers have developed a plan of action or type of horse that they search for among the yearlings on the sales grounds.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland's September yearling sale continued its near-record pace as it entered its ninth of 12 days on Wednesday, with a $260,000 Fusaichi Pegasus filly the early session leader.
Lake View Farm bought the filly from Taylor Made, agent. The filly is out of Bet Twice Princess, a stakes-winning daughter of Bet Twice.
The 12-day Keeneland September yearling auction rolled into its eighth session Tuesday off successive gains from its first seven days. Though the daily top price was tailing off as the sale neared conclusion, six-figure horses were still passing through the auction ring.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the day's top seller was a $230,000 Silver Charm colt that Bob and Beverly Lewis bought from James Keogh's Grovendale agency. The colt is the first foal out of Extra Rare, a Texas stakes winner by Rare Brick.